SUNDAY AT PETITE SALLE – LES 7 PARNASSIENS CINÉMA

SESSION 12Sunday, April 10th @ 11:40 AM

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INVENTING MYSELF by Pascui Rivas (Colombia/USA)Do you ever wonder why throughout the civilized world, brutal violence and fear-mongering fills 24-hour news cycles but the human body is so often subject to rigorous censorship? The new music video from Colombian duo Estados Alterados (Altered States) will make you question not only why that is but also why there is such a double standard between bodily censorship of women and men. We follow a young man as he observes the lives of women in his society and begins to question his place in society and the effects of the male gaze.

CHERRY CAKE by Jaine Green (United Kingdom)
Lest we forget that one day we’ll all be old, Cherry Cake reminds us that we all stay the same; we literally just get older. With that said, breathe a sigh of relief! Because every facet of your young psyche stays intact – including that bit about the birds and the bees. Uncomfortable yet? Cherry Cake willtake care of the rest.

BIDE by Dominic Read (United Kingdom)
If there’s anything that Bide should be lauded for most, it’s its strength in understanding the twistiness (albeit, very magnified twistiness) that is families with caretaker responsibilities. Because families reliant on caretakers come from a different strain of love. It’s a love certainly not contingent upon Thanksgiving dinners and cruises to Mexico and Dad’s golf game and smiley Instagram posts on #famforeverrrr. Families are your support system when everyone else is creeped out by life and take flight.

UNTIL 20 by Jamila Paksima & Geraldine Moriba (USA)
James is just like any teenager. He hangs with his friends, talks to girls, tries to teach his sister about golf. But – living with osteosarcoma – he does this within the timespan of his numbered days, making his day-to-day movements saturated with the weightiest ambedo. We see Jamesof Until 20 surrounded by friends over Texan-portioned plates of food, in bed with his family as they speak objectively of his wishes, holding hands and reflecting. Under his narration tempered with bravery and grace, we hear him as he soaks in every last meticulous details of life and love the way only the dying seem to do.

SESSION 13
Sunday, April 10th @ 1:45 PM

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BIT-TUNER – IMMUNE by Roland von Tessin & Alice Zurbuchen (Switzerland)
The world of Bit-Tuner’s music video for “Immune” is populated with opposites. Piercing lights and creeping darkness. Digital beats and hand claps. Metal monuments and human flesh. Tribal effigies and empty cityscapes. It is within this limbo that our characters seek redemption, transformation, or perhaps a higher power. Their goals are not clear, but the urgency and sensuality of their mission are.

MONICA by Dimitris Argyriou (Bosnia/Germany)
Human trafficking is today’s slavery. Girls are trafficked far and wide, and no one takes it as seriously as we should. These girls – standing on corners, waiting in restrooms, lingering around hotels – are in plain sight but their plight is akin to stepping around dog feces left on the sidewalk: people see it in front of them, but they disregard it; it’s simply not their problem. Allow Monica of the eponymous film tell you how this kind of disregard feels.

TATUAPE MAHAL TOWER by Fernanda Salloum (Brazil)
The gem of Tatuape Mahal Tower shows us that even when you’re pre-designed for perfection, you still have to make decisions: do you spend your energy trying to beat the system? Or when you can’t, do you join the system where you can? Tatuape Mahal Tower knows your life the way you didn’t think it would.

TODAY IS THE DAY by Betsy Haley Hershey (USA)
When you live for today, you’re free. But when you live like that, how much of yourself is at risk? The indigenous Tarahumara are dwindling; women and children are dying in their colorful, beautiful element. There is some due diligence to pay forward in preserving a disappearing culture; we can’t all just live for today.

BALANJA by Ali Raheem (Iraq)Balanja follows four heroes from Halabja, Kurdistan region of Iraq: Houshyar, who lost both of his legs removing landmines; Odear, an artist who narrates the stories of his town through his artworks; Bakr, a lawyer who struggles for the rights of his people; and Kamil, the cultivated son of Halabja, who wants to publish a book about the history of his city. In the backdrop of ongoing violence alloyed with largely unaware Western perspective, it is imperative to throw accounts of these bona fide heroes on-screen to force their stories a place in our lives.

SESSION 14
Sunday, April 10th @ 3:40 PM

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JADUDAH – “RED” by Maida Hals (Norway)
As a 20-something, I have recently entered the age range where many friends, acquaintances, and remnants of my teenage years are getting married left and right. This phase is so novel that it still comes as a bit of a shock when the next crop of lovers post their engagement photos across the gamut of social media networks. While I do not condemn their choices, I cannot even begin to imagine myself making that sort of commitment at my age; the gravity of such a choice seems impossibly huge. The video for Jadudah’s “Red”, directed by Norwegian Maida Hals, taps into the myriad of emotions that can be captured within a single wedding photographic, the enormity of their hopes for this union, and explodes them into a decade-spanning dance party. You will likely feel much differently the next time your grandparents sit you down to show you the photo albums of their youth.

NO GOOD TURN by Udoka Oyeka (Nigeria/Canada)
Thought you were duped when your best friend tagged you in a hideous picture on Facebook? Don’t talk to terror- affected victims then before they shove your face in the imagery of No Good Turn, take your laptop and chuck it across the room to check you on your privilege. The film focuses on a day out of Boko Haram ravaged Nigeria, andwill have you aware of the dichotomy that engulfs those affected by terror and your cushy suburban follies.

BEDTIME STORY by Kanin Chandrasma (Thailand)
Before humanity created systems of writing to record and disseminate our histories, desires, fears, and dreams, language was purely an oral tradition. From the events of the day to secret legends passed down through generations, everything was shared by word of mouth. Bedtime Story harkens back to those traditions as a loving mother shares a fanciful tale with her young daughter. But as the world maps of the distant past once said: “…here there be monsters.”

BEYOND THE WATER by Marco Rizzo (Italy)
In this voiceless world of water, salt, and blood, only the strong will survive. We witness a lone woman, chain-smoking as she battles figures rising of the ocean, their visages pained and despairing as if frozen in a German expressionist woodcut. It is an elemental film that, together with a surprising epilogue, makes for a tense, thought-provoking affair. Their war of attrition is ambiguous, and ultimately futile—in the end, everything will be swallowed by the sea.

WELCOME by Javier Fesser (Spain)
Without the Internet, Vista Alegre – a small district in Peru – was unbeknownst to all, and all was unbeknownst to it, too. Now, with the help of Luces Para Aprender – a nonprofit bringing electricity and Internet access to 66,000 schools in Latin America – the world doesn’t feel so huge and unreachable anymore. The best line out of the sweet naivety? As young Gisella – a world-wide web neophyte – explains to an aged shopkeeper the concept of the Internet, the wrinkled woman hands her her purchases, looks down and mutters, “I wonder how some people can still deny the existence of God.” Welcome to the big, wide, beautiful world, Vista Alegre.

LIFE ON THE BORDER by Basmeh Soleiman, Delovan Kekha, Diar Omar, Hazem Khodeideh, Mahmod Ahmad, Ronahi Ezaddin, and Zohour Saeid (Iraq)
Come live in limbo for seventy-five minutes with eight refugees unsure of the outcome to the roadmap of their lives. In Life on the Border, refugees are given cameras and simple technical training to document their experiences. “I invite you to come see my life,” they all begin their segments, and invite us in to the stagnant non-motion of those without the luxury to move forward.